Reese Header Lifts Anthony Wayne Girls Over Northview, 1-0

AW senior Emilie Reese skies as she heads a corner kick ball from classmate Jen Fortner into the net against Northview on September 20. It was the only goal of the game, giving the Generals a 1-0 road win over the LadyKats. MIRROR PHOTO BY KEVIN FINNIGAN

BY JOEL SENSENIG | MIRROR SPORTS — Technically, you only need to score one goal to win a soccer game. The Anthony Wayne girls team is quite familiar with this fact, as half of their 10 wins on the season have come from finding the net just once. The Generals (10-1 overall, 4-0 in the Northern Lakes League) got their third such win in a row on September 20, when they visited Northview (3-7) and came away with the 1-0 victory. The win also kept AW atop the Northern Lakes League standings in a dead heat with Perrysburg (8-1-1, 4-0). The two teams were slated to face off in Perrysburg on Wednesday, September 27. After 44 scoreless minutes, Anthony Wayne senior Emilie Reese broke the deadlock when she headed in a corner kick ball from classmate Jen Fortner. “Jennifer Fortner is easily our best person at taking corner kicks,” Reese said. “I knew she has a lot of curve on her ball, so I knew how to step away and pull the defender away and I just hit it with my head and got it in.” AW coach Lori Williams gave plenty of credit to a Wildcats team that had just knocked off St. Ursula, the lone team to defeat the Generals this season. “That’s a big-time win, since they’re coming off beating St. Ursula,” she said. “St. Ursula obviously beat us, so it’s a really big win, especially because Northview is playing some of its best soccer.” Williams said that while the Generals could have been more efficient in front of the net, they got the goal they needed to get the desired result. “I really felt like we moved the ball pretty well on the field, but we’ve got to be a little bit better in front of goal,” she said. “But Deuce’s (Reese, No. 2) finish was fantastic.” Although AW had a significant shot advantage over the LadyKats, the home squad made some big defensive plays when it needed them. “I felt like Jenna Kill came up with a couple of really big saves for them,” Williams said. “The post came up a couple times as well, unfortunately.” The Generals largely dominated possession and control of the ball throughout the first half and started picking up their attack at Kill through the middle part of the half. As it has been all season, AW proved to be most deadly on its set pieces and corner kicks in particular. After Fortner booted one in front of the net, it bounced around a bit before coming out to sophomore Sam Schofield at the top of the box, where she unleashed a rocket shot that bounced off the right post. As the first-half clock wore down, Fortner unleashed another corner that found the head of senior Areanna Fuller, who sent it flying toward the net. Unfortunately for the Generals, Northview senior midfielder Bailee Thompason was there to make the non-goalie save with her right thigh. Both teams had their shots to alter the scoreboard for the remainder of the half. Three minutes after her header goal, Reese missed just wide on a left-footed shot, while senior Hannah Dress just missed on another shot halfway through the half. Northview was close to tying it up with 8:40 to play on a corner kick from sophomore Ella Scanes that found classmate Lauren Elliott, but the ball sailed just over the net. AW sophomore Keaton Grabarczyk made a great save at the 6:45 mark, jumping up to nab a free kick shot taken by Elliott. With the help of her defense, Grabarczyk was able to pitch yet another shutout, stopping eight shots on the night. Reese said Anthony Wayne was just intent on doing what it had to do to stay atop the NLL standings, tied with Perrysburg with 4-0 records. “We’re staying in first place in the NLL, so that was our main goal,” Reese said. “We come out as a big family. We fight for each other. No matter how many people get subbed out, the same intensity comes back in.” Williams said Northview was a good match in presenting AW with some challenges that it had to fight to solve. “They really gave us some problems to unlock and solve. In large parts of the game, we struggled to do so,” she said. “I thought we kept the ball, but we weren’t maybe as dangerous as we could have been and that will continue to come with time.” Mansfield Madison 2, AW 1 Last Saturday, the Generals dropped their second non-league game of the season in a 2-1 loss at home to Mansfield Madison. Anthony Wayne jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the game when Reese launched a corner kick to junior Izzy Merkel, who headed it into the net. Madison tied it up later in the half on a penalty kick by Hayley Huff and took the lead for good 10 minutes into the second half when Hannah Schmidt scored on a corner kick header. Madison held a 13-8 shot advantage in the contest.